Method and handheld electronic device including first input component and second touch sensitive input component

ABSTRACT

A handheld electronic device includes a housing having a surface; a first input component having input members disposed external to the surface; a second touch sensitive input component disposed about the input members, the touch sensitive input component being separate and distinct from the input members and the first input component and being structured to provide one of: a contact point with respect to the surface responsive to actuation of a first number of the input members, and a number of responses responsive to actuation of a second number of the input members. A processor cooperates with the first input component and the touch sensitive input component to determine if a plurality of the input members are actuated contemporaneously and to output a representation of a single one of the input members based upon one of: the contact point, and the number of responses.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

The application is a continuation application of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 11/961,249 filed Dec. 20, 2007, the entire contents of whichare incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND

1. Field

The disclosed and claimed concept pertains generally to handheldelectronic devices and, more particularly, to handheld electronicdevices including a first input component and a separate second touchsensitive input component. The disclosed and claimed concept alsopertains to methods of outputting the selection of input members of ahandheld electronic device.

2. Description of the Related Art

Numerous types of handheld electronic devices are known. Examples ofsuch handheld electronic devices include, for instance, personal dataassistants (PDAs), handheld computers, two-way pagers, cellulartelephones, and the like. Many handheld electronic devices also featurewireless communication capability, although many such handheldelectronic devices are stand-alone devices that are functional withoutcommunication with other devices. Wireless handheld electronic devicesare generally intended to be portable, and thus are of a relativelycompact configuration in which keys and other input structures oftenperform multiple functions under certain circumstances or may otherwisehave multiple aspects or features assigned thereto.

As a practical matter, the keys of a keypad can only be reduced to acertain small size before the keys become relatively unusable. In orderto enable text input, however, a keypad must be capable of entering alltwenty-six letters of the Roman alphabet, for instance, as well asappropriate punctuation and other symbols.

One way of providing numerous letters in a small space has been toprovide a “reduced keyboard” in which multiple letters, symbols, and/ordigits, and the like, are assigned to any given key. In order to enablea user to make use of the multiple letters, symbols, digits, and thelike on any given key, numerous keystroke interpretation systems havebeen provided. For instance, a “multi-tap” system allows a user tosubstantially unambiguously specify a particular character on a key bypressing the same key a number of times equivalent to the position ofthe desired character on the key. For example, a telephone key includesthe letters “ABC”. If the user desires to specify the letter “C”, thenthe user will press the key three times. While such multi-tap systemshave been generally effective for their intended purposes, theynevertheless can require a relatively large number of key inputscompared with the number of characters that ultimately are output.Another example keystroke interpretation system is key chording, ofwhich various types exist. For instance, a particular character can beentered by pressing two keys in succession or by pressing and holding afirst key while pressing a second key. Still another keystrokeinterpretation system is a “press-and-hold/press-and-release”interpretation function in which a given key provides a first result ifthe key is pressed and immediately released, and provides a secondresult if the key is pressed and held for a short period of time.

Another keystroke interpretation system that has been employed is asoftware-based text disambiguation function. In such a system, a usertypically presses keys to which one or more characters have beenassigned, generally pressing each key one time for each desired letter,and the disambiguation software attempts to predict the intended input.Numerous different systems have been proposed. See, for example, U.S.Patent Application Publication Nos. 2006/0007120 and 2006/0007121assigned to the same assignee as the instant application; and U.S. Pat.No. 5,953,541. For example, as a user enters keystrokes, the deviceprovides output in the form of a default output and a number of variantsfrom which a user can choose. The output is based largely upon thefrequency, i.e., the likelihood that a user intended a particularoutput, but various features of the device provide additional variantsthat are not based solely on frequency and rather are provided byvarious logic structures resident on the device.

When the key and keypad sizes shrink because of the form factor on thehandheld electronic device, typing error rate increases. Hence, as thesize of keypads becomes smaller and smaller, the issue of multiple keypresses becomes more and more important to keypad design. One of thereasons is that the user's thumb and fingers are simply too big for therelatively small sized keys. Therefore, it becomes more likely that theuser accidentally hits a nearby key, or even several keys at the sametime.

On some handheld electronic devices, a key adjacent to an activated keydoes not respond to stimuli until a set time lag has passed. Thisprevents unintended sequential pressing of adjacent keys on the keypad.This time lag is one method to reduce the error rate of rapid keying;however, this relatively short delay may impede on users who areintentionally typing adjacent keys in relatively quick succession.

There is room for improvement in handheld electronic devices.

There is also room for improvement in methods of outputting theselection of input members of a handheld electronic device.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A full understanding of the disclosed and claimed concept can be gainedfrom the following description of the preferred embodiments when read inconjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of a wireless handheld electronic device inaccordance with embodiments of the disclosed and claimed concept.

FIG. 1A is a block diagram in schematic form of the wireless handheldelectronic device of FIG. 1.

FIG. 1B is a block diagram in schematic form of the memory of thewireless handheld electronic device of FIG. 1A.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a keypad processing routine of the processor ofthe wireless handheld electronic device of FIG. 1A.

FIG. 3 is a simplified diagram of the touchpad and a portion of thekeypad of the input apparatus of FIG. 1A.

FIGS. 4 and 5 are simplified plan views of portions of a keypad andtouch sensors during a key press in accordance with other embodiments ofthe disclosed and claimed concept.

FIGS. 6 and 7 are plots of the responses of the touchpads versus timefor the keypads of FIGS. 4 and 5, respectively.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of another keypad processing routine of theprocessor of the wireless handheld electronic device of FIG. 1A inaccordance with another embodiment of the disclosed and claimed concept.

Similar numerals refer to similar parts throughout the specification.

DESCRIPTION

As employed herein, the term “number” shall mean one or an integergreater than one (i.e., a plurality).

As employed herein, the term “processor” means a programmable analogand/or digital device that can store, retrieve, and process data; acomputer; a workstation; a personal computer; a microprocessor; amicrocontroller; a microcomputer; a central processing unit; a mainframecomputer; a mini-computer; a server; a networked processor; or anysuitable processing device or apparatus.

Embodiments of the disclosed and claimed concept reduce typing error,not by increasing the effective area of the keys, not by reshaping thekeys, not by increasing the space between the keys, but by allowingmultiple key presses (e.g., the intended key in addition to a number ofnear by keys) and still being able to detect the intended key among allof the one or more pressed keys. This allows industrial designers tobuild a relatively smaller keypad and still keep a relatively low typingerror rate.

Some embodiments of the disclosed and claimed concept employ a touchpadunder the keypad to sense the exact position of the user's finger on thekey. When several neighboring keys are pressed at the same time or overa very short period of time, the information from the touchpad under thekeys is used to determine/guess what key the user really intended topress.

In one example embodiment, a handheld electronic device determines theuser's intended key from a table using a sensed finger position from thetouchpad.

In another example embodiment, information from a predictive inputsystem, like, for example, SureType™, could also be used to determinethe user's intended key when a key is pressed while the user's fingerposition is too close to the border between the intended key and aneighboring key.

Other example embodiments of the disclosed and claimed concept employtouch sensors on the keys of the keypad to sense the intended key of oneor more pressed keys. When several neighboring keys are pressed at thesame time or over a relatively short period of time, the informationfrom the touch sensors is used to resolve what key the user reallyintended to press.

In accordance with one aspect of the disclosed and claimed concept, ahandheld electronic device comprises: a housing including a surface; afirst input component comprising a plurality of input members disposedexternal to the surface of the housing; a second touch sensitive inputcomponent disposed about the input members of the first input component,the second touch sensitive input component being separate and distinctfrom the input members and the first input component and beingstructured to provide one of: (a) a contact point with respect to thesurface of the housing responsive to actuation of a first number of theinput members, and (b) a number of responses responsive to actuation ofa second number of the input members; and a processor cooperating withthe first input component and the second touch sensitive input componentto determine if a plurality of the input members are actuatedcontemporaneously and to output a representation of a single one of theinput members based upon one of: (a) the contact point, and (b) thenumber of responses.

The second touch sensitive input component may be disposed between thehousing and the input members of the first input component; the secondtouch sensitive input component may be structured to provide the contactpoint; and the processor may be structured to output the representationbased upon the contact point.

The second touch sensitive input component may be disposed on each ofthe input members of the first input component; the second touchsensitive input component may be a plurality of touch sensors beingstructured to provide the number of responses; and the processor may bestructured to output the representation based upon the number ofresponses.

The representation may be a first representation selected from the bestone of the number of responses; the processor may comprise a memory, aword dictionary and a routine; the routine may be structured to providea second representation of a first term formed from a number of previousactuations of a number of the input members and the firstrepresentation; and the routine may be further structured to output thefirst representation if the first term is found in the word dictionaryand, alternatively, to select a third representation selected from thenext best one of the number of responses, to provide a fourthrepresentation of a different second term formed from the number ofprevious actuations and the third representation, and to output thethird representation if the different second term is found in the worddictionary.

The second touch sensitive input component may be a touchpad; and thecontact point may be a first coordinate and a second coordinate withrespect to the surface of the housing.

The processor can comprise a memory including a table having, for eachof the input members, a representation of a corresponding one of theinput members, at least one character associated with the correspondingone of the input members, a first coordinate of the corresponding one ofthe input members with respect to the surface of the housing, and asecond coordinate of the corresponding one of the input members withrespect to the surface of the housing; the second touch sensitive inputcomponent may be further structured to provide the contact pointincluding a third coordinate and a fourth coordinate with respect to thesurface of the housing; and the processor may be structured to output asthe representation of the single one of the input members the at leastone character associated with the closest pair of the first and secondcoordinates to the third and fourth coordinates.

The processor can be structured to determine that the contact point isremote from all of the input members; and the processor may comprise apredictive input routine structured to employ an identification of theplurality of the input members that are actuated contemporaneously inorder to output the representation of the single one of the inputmembers based upon the identification.

The predictive input routine can be a disambiguation routine.

The predictive input routine can be further structured to evaluate theplurality of the input members that are actuated contemporaneously basedupon at least one of: (a) a count of words being predicted from each ofthe plurality of the input members that are actuated contemporaneously,and (b) a measure of common usage of the words.

In accordance with another aspect of the disclosed and claimed concept,a method of outputting a selection of an input member of a handheldelectronic device comprises: employing a housing including a surface;disposing a plurality of input members of a first input componentexternal to the surface of the housing; disposing a second touchsensitive input component, which is separate and distinct from the inputmembers and the first input component, about the input members of thefirst input component; providing from the second touch sensitive inputcomponent one of: (a) a contact point with respect to the surface of thehousing responsive to actuation of a first number of the input members,and (b) a number of responses responsive to actuation of a second numberof the input members; detecting actuation of a number of the inputmembers; and determining if a plurality of the input members areactuated contemporaneously and responsively outputting a representationof a single one of the input members based upon one of: (a) the contactpoint, and (b) the number of responses.

An improved handheld electronic device 4 is indicated generally in FIG.1 and is depicted schematically in FIG. 2. The example handheldelectronic device 4 includes a housing 6 upon which are disposed aninput apparatus 8, an output apparatus 12, and a processor apparatus 16.The input apparatus 8 is structured to provide input to the processorapparatus 16, and the output apparatus 12 is structured to receiveoutput signals from the processor apparatus 16. The output apparatus 12comprises a display 18 that is structured to provide visual output,although other output devices such as speakers, LEDs, tactile outputdevices, and so forth can be additionally or alternatively used. Theoutput apparatus 12 can also comprise a wireless transceiver 21.

As can be understood from FIG. 1, the input apparatus 8 includes akeypad 24, a touchpad 26 (shown in hidden line drawing in FIG. 1) and amultiple-axis input device which, in the example embodiment depictedherein, is a track ball 32 that will be described in greater detailbelow. The keypad 24 comprises a plurality of keys 28 in the exampleform of a reduced QWERTY keyboard, meaning that at least some of thekeys 28 each have a plurality of linguistic elements assigned thereto,with at least some of the linguistic elements being Latin lettersarranged generally in a QWERTY configuration. The keys 28 and the trackball 32 all are disposed on the front surface 29 of the housing 6 andserve as input members that are actuatable to provide input to theprocessor apparatus 16. The keypad 24 and the track ball 32 areadvantageously disposed adjacent one another on the front surface 29 ofthe housing 6. This enables a user to operate the track ball 32substantially without moving the user's hands away from the keypad 24during a text entry operation or other operation.

One of the keys 28 is an <ESCAPE> key 31 which, when actuated, providesto the processor apparatus 16 an input that undoes the action whichresulted from the immediately preceding input and/or moves the user to aposition logically higher within a logical menu tree managed by agraphical user interface (GUI) routine 46. The function provided by the<ESCAPE> key 31 can be used at any logical location within any portionof the logical menu tree except, perhaps, at a conventional home screen(not shown). The <ESCAPE> key 31 is advantageously disposed adjacent thetrack ball 32 thereby enabling, for example, an unintended or incorrectinput from the track ball 32 to be quickly undone, i.e., reversed, by anactuation of the adjacent <ESCAPE> key 31.

Another of the keys 28 is a <MENU> key 33 which, when actuated, providesto the processor apparatus 16 an input that causes the GUI 46 togenerate and output on the display 18 a menu (not shown).

While in the depicted example embodiment the multiple-axis input deviceis the track ball 32, it is noted that multiple-axis input devices otherthan the track ball 32 can be employed without departing from thepresent concept. For instance, other appropriate multiple-axis inputdevices could include mechanical devices such as joysticks and the likeand/or non-mechanical devices such as touch pads, track pads and thelike and/or other devices which detect motion or input in otherfashions, such as through the use of optical sensors or piezoelectriccrystals.

The track ball 32 is freely rotatable in all directions with respect tothe housing 6. A rotation of the track ball 32 a predeterminedrotational distance with respect to the housing 6 provides an input tothe processor apparatus 16, and such inputs can be employed by a numberof routines, for example, as navigational inputs, scrolling inputs,selection inputs, and other inputs.

For instance, and as can be seen in FIG. 1, the track ball 32 isrotatable about a horizontal axis 34A to provide vertical scrolling,navigational, selection, or other inputs. Similarly, the track ball 32is rotatable about a vertical axis 34B to provide horizontal scrolling,navigational, selection, or other inputs. Since the track ball 32 isfreely rotatable with respect to the housing 6, the track ball 32 isadditionally rotatable about any other axis (not expressly depictedherein) that lies within the plane of the page of FIG. 1 or that extendsout of the plane of the page of FIG. 1.

The track ball 32 can be said to be a multiple-axis input device becauseit provides scrolling, navigational, selection, and other inputs in aplurality of directions or with respect to a plurality of axes, such asproviding inputs in both the vertical and the horizontal directions. Itis reiterated that the track ball 32 is merely one of many multiple-axisinput devices that could be employed on the handheld electronic device4. As such, mechanical alternatives to the track ball 32, such as ajoystick, might have a limited rotation with respect to the housing 6,and non-mechanical alternatives might be immovable with respect to thehousing 6, yet all are capable of providing input in a plurality ofdirections and/or along a plurality of axes.

The track ball 32 additionally is translatable toward the housing 6,i.e., into the plane of the page of FIG. 1, to provide additionalinputs. The track ball 32 could be translated in such a fashion by, forexample, a user applying an actuating force to the track ball 32 in adirection toward the housing 6, such as by pressing on the track ball32. The inputs that are provided to the processor apparatus 16 as aresult of a translation of the track ball 32 in the indicated fashioncan be employed by the routines, for example, as selection inputs,delimiter inputs, or other inputs.

As can be seen in FIG. 1A, the processor apparatus 16 comprises aprocessor 17 and a memory 20. The processor 17 may be, for instance andwithout limitation, a microprocessor (μP) that is responsive to inputsfrom the input apparatus 8 and that provides output signals to theoutput apparatus 12. The processor 17 interfaces with the memory 20.

The memory 20 can be said to constitute a machine-readable medium andcan be any one or more of a variety of types of internal and/or externalstorage media such as, without limitation, RAM, ROM, EPROM(s),EEPROM(s), FLASH, and the like that provide a storage register for datastorage such as in the fashion of an internal storage area of acomputer, and can be volatile memory or nonvolatile memory. The memory20 has stored therein the aforementioned number of routines 22 which areexecutable on the processor 17. The routines 22 can be in any of avariety of forms such as, without limitation, software, firmware, andthe like. Some non-limiting example routines include personalinformation routines 42, a spell checking routine 44, a disambiguationroutine 45, and the aforementioned GUI 46, as well as other routines.

As employed herein, the term “reduced keypad” means a keypad or othersuitable keyboard in which multiple letters, symbols, and/or digits, andthe like, are assigned to any given key. For example and withoutlimitation, a touch-tone telephone includes a reduced keypad byproviding twelve keys, of which ten have digits thereon, and of theseten keys eight have Latin letters assigned thereto. For instance, one ofthe keys includes the digit “2” as well as the letters “A”, “B”, and“C”. Other known reduced keyboards have included other arrangements ofkeys, letters, symbols, digits, and the like. Since a single actuationof such a key potentially could be intended by the user to refer to anyof the letters “A”, “B”, and “C”, and potentially could also be intendedto refer to the digit “2”, the input generally is an ambiguous input andis in need of some type of disambiguation in order to be useful for textentry purposes.

As employed herein, the term “characters” means letters, digits, symbolsand the like and can additionally include ideographic characters,components thereof, and the like.

As employed herein, the term “full keypad” means a keypad or othersuitable keyboard in which plural letters are not assigned to any givenkey. Optionally, some of the other keys may have multiple symbols and/ordigits, and the like, assigned to each of those other keys.

As employed herein the term “touchpad” means an input apparatusstructured using any suitable technology to determine the location of auser's finger (e.g., without limitation, X_Finger, Y_Finger) withrespect to two axes (e.g., without limitation, a horizontal axis and avertical axis; an X axis and a Y axis) of a planar or generally planarsurface.

As employed herein the term “contact point” means an output of atouchpad, which output typically includes, for example and withoutlimitation, two coordinates with respect to two axes (e.g., withoutlimitation, a horizontal axis and a vertical axis; an X axis and a Yaxis) of a planar or generally planar surface.

As employed herein the term “touch sensor” means an input apparatusstructured using any suitable technology (e.g., without limitation,capacitive; resistive; pressure) to determine a degree of user touch ofa surface, such as for example, the top of a key associated with asingle character or a portion of the top of a key associated with asingle character. For example, a capacitive touch sensor is structuredto operate by sensing the capacitance of a finger, or the capacitancebetween sensors. For example, capacitive sensors are laid out along thehorizontal and vertical axes of a touchpad. The location of the fingeris determined from the pattern of capacitance from these sensors. Forexample, where plural letters are assigned to any given key, thencorresponding plural touch sensors are employed. Alternatively, where asingle letter is assigned to any given key, then a single correspondingtouch sensor is employed.

Example 1

Referring to FIG. 2, a keypad processing routine 200 is shown. First, at202, the routine 200 waits for a key press as determined by theprocessor 17 of FIG. 1 from a number of inputs from the keypad 24. Next,at 204, it is determined if there were multiple presses of the keys 28.For example, this is done by the operating system (OS) keypad scannerroutine 218 (FIG. 1B). If there were no multiple presses of the keys 28at 204, then at 206, it is determined if the current key press wascontemporaneous with the previous key press (i.e., existing, occurring,or originating during the same time, or too close in time, to theprevious key press (e.g., without limitation, within 80 mS)). If not,then at 208, the pressed key 28 is accepted before returning to step 202to wait for the next key press. Hence, in this instance, step 202determines that a number of the keys 28 were actuated at a first time,steps 204 and 206 determine that only one of those keys 28 was actuatedat a later second time, which is greater than a predetermined time(e.g., without limitation, within 80 mS) after the first time, and step208 responsively outputs a representation of such one of those keys 28.

Otherwise, if either of the conditions at 204 or 206 pass, then thisindicates that plural keys 28 were either actuated at the same time or,else, within a predetermined time (e.g., without limitation, within 80mS) of each other. Next, at 210, it is determined if the X_Finger andY_Finger combination from the touchpad 26 (as shown in FIG. 1) is foundin a key position table 211 (FIG. 1B) (see, for example, Table 1, below;and Examples 3-7). If so, then at 212, FoundKey is set equal to the key28 from the key position table 211. Otherwise, at 214, since theX_Finger and Y_Finger combination from the touchpad 26 is suitablyremote from a suitable two-dimensional “center of gravity” (and/or thecentral geographic portion and/or the most frequent user-touch position,which can be determined experimentally) of all of the keys 28, then eachof the multiple pressed keys 28 from steps 202 and 204 (or 206) is inputby a Predictive Input Engine 215 (in the memory 20 of FIG. 1B). Forexample, the Predictive Input Engine 215 ranks (e.g., withoutlimitation, assigns points, as is discussed in any or all of Examples 8,9 and 12, below) to each pressed key 28 based upon the number of wordsbeing predicted and how common these words are. In turn, the FoundKey isset equal to the key having the maximum point count.

After either 212 or 214, at 216, the FoundKey is accepted and the numberof other key presses from steps 202 and 204 (or 206) are either removedor ignored. After 216, execution resumes at step 202 to wait for thenext key press.

Example 2

At 202 and 204 of FIG. 2, if multiple keys 28 are pressed when aconventional operating system (OS) keypad scanner routine 218 (FIG. 1B)scans the keypad 24, then a Multiple Key Press is reported by thatkeypad scanner routine 218. Conventionally, such a Multiple Key Presswould have been ignored by routine 218 unless one of those keys 28 was,for example, a SHIFT, a CAP or the like. For example, a CAP keyindicates whether the ‘A’ key corresponds to an ‘A’ (upper case) or an‘a’ (lower case). At step 206 of FIG. 2, if the key presses are delayedby so much in time that they get scanned by the keypad scanner routine218 in two different scanning sequences, then no Multiple Key Press isreported by that routine and both key presses are separately accepted atdifferent instances of step 208. Hence, the routine 200 first checks, at204, if the keypad scanner routine 218 has reported multiple key pressesand, if not, compares, at 206, the time thereof with the time of thelast detected key press.

If the condition fails at 206, and if the function (not shown) of theroutine 200 is to handle only simultaneous or relatively very close keypresses, then it does not take any other action (step 208 is notexecuted by the routine 200) and execution resumes at 202. Otherwise, ifthe function of the routine 200 is to handle all key presses, then, asshown, step 208 is executed before returning to step 202. Otherwise, ifthe condition passes at 206, since there is insufficient delay (e.g.,without limitation, less than about 80 ms), then it is assumed that thenew and old key presses are a Multiple Key Press.

Example 3

FIG. 3 shows the touchpad 26 and a portion of the keypad 24 of the inputapparatus 8 of FIG. 1A. The touchpad 26, which is a touch sensitiveinput component, is disposed between the housing 6 (FIG. 1) and the keys28 of the keypad 24. The touchpad 26 is structured to provide a contactpoint 209 responsive to a number of the keys 28 being actuated (e.g.,without limitation, keys ‘DF’, ‘GH’, ‘CV’ and ‘BN’). As will bediscussed, the processor 17 (FIG. 1A) is structured to output, at 216 ofFIG. 2, a representation of one of those keys 28 based upon that contactpoint 209. This provides the predicted word or term arising from: (a) anumber of prior presses of the keys 28, and (b) the present press of aplurality of the keys 28. In particular, the example touchpad 26 isdisposed under the keypad 24 to sense a first coordinate 209X and asecond coordinate 209Y corresponding to the contact point 209.

Step 210 of FIG. 2 provides a suitable border (e.g., at the top, bottom,left and right) of, for example and without limitation, 25% (¼) of theheight 28H or width 28W of a corresponding one of the keys 28 withrespect to its center 28C. This permits the selection of a particularone of the keys 28 if the X_Finger 209× and Y_Finger 209Y of the contactpoint 209 from the touchpad 26 is within a suitable border of thecentral x and y positions (e.g., the two-dimensional “center ofgravity”; the central geographic portion; and/or the most frequentuser-touch position, which can be determined experimentally; see Table 1of Example 4, below) for one key 28 in the key position table 211. The25% margin is an example, which might be changed based on suitable testsdone for optimization. That margin depends, for example and withoutlimitation, upon key sizes, key shapes (e.g., without limitation,square; circular; oval; oblong; elliptical; any suitable shape), keyspaces, average finger sizes, average angle of the finger on the key 28,and other suitable factors.

Example 4

The structure of the example key position table 211 for step 210 of FIG.2 (using X_Finger 209X and Y_Finger 209Y from the touchpad 26) is shownin Table 1, which shows representative portions of the key positiontable 211 for a conventional full QWERTY keypad. The x and y values arein any suitable units (e.g., without limitation, a count of units per acorresponding X position distance or Y position distance of the touchpad26).

TABLE 1 Key# KeyChar x y  1 q 100 100  2 w 200 100  3 e 300 100  4 r 400100 . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 a 100 200 12 s 200 200 13 d 300 200 14 f400 200 . . . . . . . . . . . .

Hence, for example, if X_Finger and Y_Finger from the touchpad 26 are200 and 100, respectively, then Key #2 corresponding to KeyChar w isselected from the key position table 211.

Table 2 shows similar representative portions of another key positiontable for a conventional reduced QWERTY keypad.

TABLE 2 Key# KeyChar x y  1 qw 100 100  2 er 200 100  3 ty 300 100  4 ui400 100 . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 as 100 200 12 df 200 200 13 gh 300200 14 jk 400 200 . . . . . . . . . . . .

Example 5

Similarly, assuming that the width 28W and height 28H of the keys 28 areboth 80 units and, thus, the example border is 20 (=25% of 80), then ifX_Finger and Y_Finger from the touchpad 26 are 420 and 80, respectively,then Key #4/KeyChar r is selected from the key position table 211. Thiscorresponds to the example 25% embodiment of step 210 of FIG. 2.

Example 6

Similarly, assuming that the width 28W and height 28H of the keys 28 areboth 80 units and, thus, the example border is 20, then if X_Finger andY_Finger from the touchpad 26 are 350 and 120, respectively, and if aMultiple Key Press involving Key #3/KeyChar e and Key #4/KeyChar r isreported, then the Predictive Input Engine 215 (FIG. 1B) is employed todetermine the selected key from those two keys 28.

Example 7

Although not shown in Table 1, the example margin discussed above couldalso be embedded in the key position table 211, instead of being aseparate calculation, as shown. Here, for example, instead of a centralx and y position in Table 1 along with a separately calculated margin,the key position table 211 could be expanded to include, for each key28, x_min, x_max, y_min and y_max values. For example, if the width 28Wand height 28H of the keys 28 are 80 units and 60 units, respectively,and, thus, the example border is 20 and 15, respectively, then thex_min, x_max, y_min and y_max values for the Key #4/KeyChar r (x=400,y=100 of Table 1) would be 380, 420, 85 and 115, respectively. Here, forexample, X_Finger and Y_Finger of 380 and 115, respectively, would bewithin the margin found in the key position table 211, while X_Fingerand Y_Finger of 421 and 84, respectively, would not be found.

Example 8

In terms of “points” provided by the Predictive Input Engine 215, thisconsiders both the “number of words predicted” and “how common thosewords are”. As a simple and non-limiting example, if there is a MultipleKey Press involving a text entry application on a reduced QWERTYkeyboard, where the user sought to type the word “this”, then this wouldinvolve presses of four keys 28 including ‘TY’, ‘GH’, ‘UI’ and ‘AS’. If,for example, for the last key press, the user pressed both ‘QW’ and ‘AS’keys 28, and if the X_Finger and Y_Finger from the touchpad 26 were notwithin the margin of any of the keys (x and y) in the key position table211, then both key presses are fed into the Predictive Input Engine 215(e.g., without limitation, predictive engine; disambiguation engine(e.g., without limitation, SureType™; T9)). There, for example, the ‘QW’key 28 yields two predicted words: “thiq” and “thiw”, and the ‘AS’ key28 yields three predicted words: “this”, “thus” and “thia”. Here, the‘AS’ key 28 has the advantage of three versus two “number of wordspredicted” and gets relatively higher points than the ‘QW’ key. Also, aquick search in the SureType™ word dictionary (e.g., 88) shows, forexample, that “this” and “thus” are more common than any of the otherexample predicted words as discussed above. Hence, the ‘AS’ key 28 alsogets relatively higher points for yielding more common words. Based onthe assigned points, the ‘AS’ key 28 press is selected instead of the‘QW’ key 28 press and the predicted words for that key press (“this”,“thus” and “thia”) are shown to the user.

Example 9

Alternatively, the keys 28 may be selected based upon any suitablealgorithm involving at least one of the “number of words predicted” and“how common those words are”.

Example 10

At the start of step 214 of FIG. 2, it is not certain which key 28 isdesired out of the set of plural (e.g., without limitation 2, 3, 4 ormore) keys 28 in the vicinity of the finger press 213 (FIG. 3). Theselection is made, in this example, by the user in a popup lookup screen(not shown), which contains the list of possible words (if wordprediction is employed) or word prefix candidates.

In known devices with reduced keypads such as the example reduced QWERTYkeypad 24 shown in FIG. 1, when the user presses ambiguous keys, thedevice considers all the possible character combinations derived fromthe keys 28 inputted for the word being composed. For instance, when theuser presses the keys 28 ‘AS’ and ‘ER’, the Predictive Input Engine 215considers four combinations: AE, AR, SE, SR, one of which, generallyspeaking, constitutes the beginning of the composed word, called a wordprefix (although, it could also be a whole word). The Predictive InputEngine 215 finds all possible words in the wordlists (dictionaries)starting with these prefixes, ranks the prefixes according to weighedfrequencies, stored in the wordlists, of the corresponding words, andpresents the meaningful prefixes (those which can be completed to becomewords) or the corresponding words in the lookup screen sorted accordingto their ranks.

If, for example, three two-character keys 28 are pressed, then the countof prefixes will be eight, and the corresponding lookup screen will bebuilt displaying the corresponding list of possible words or word prefixcandidates.

When adding the factor of key ambiguity in addition to characterambiguity of keys 28, it is logically equivalent to pressing one big key28 (e.g., without limitation, a superkey) representing the set ofcharacters combined from all the keys 28 under consideration. Forinstance, if, after pressing key ‘AS’, the user presses between keys‘ER’ and ‘TY’, then the latter press can be considered as a press on aso-called superkey ‘ERTY’. Therefore, the following combinations will beanalyzed by the Predictive Input Engine 215: AE, AR, AT, AY, SE, SR, STand SY, and the corresponding words will be looked up in the wordlists(dictionaries). In other words, an ambiguous double, triple orquadruple, for example, key press is equated to pressing a superkey withall the characters collected from the keys 28 under consideration. Inthis example, except for the fact that, perhaps, four, six, eight ormore ambiguous characters must be considered, rather than two ambiguouscharacters, a conventional predictive-input mechanism is employed.

Example 11

As an alternative to step 210 of FIG. 2, rather than performing the testfor any key 28 found in the key position table 211, the test may belimited to only those multiple keys 28 that were detected at 202 and204, as being part of the Multiple Key Press.

Example 12

As a more specific example than Example 8, a point system for keys 28could provide a first point value (e.g., without limitation, one point)for every found non-common word, and a different second point value(e.g., without limitation, two points) for every found common word.Hence, in Example 8, where the user intended to type “this” and pressedthe ‘TY’, ‘GH’ and ‘UI’ keys and, then, by mistake, pressed both of the‘AS’ and ‘QW’ keys, which yields either: (1) from the ‘QW’ key, twopredicted words: “thiq” and “thiw”; and (2) from the ‘AS’ key, threepredicted words: “this”, “thus” and “thia”, the point system for feedingthose two keys 28 into the Predictive Input Engine 215 is as follows:

For the ‘AS’ key, the three predicted words: “this”, “thus” and “thia”receive 5 points (2, 2 and 1, respectively), since “thia”, unlike “this”and “thus”, is not a common word found in any of the number of availabledictionaries. For the ‘QW’ key, the two predicted words: “thiq” and“thiw” receive 2 points (1 and 1, respectively), since neither word is acommon word. Hence, since the ‘AS’ key receives relatively more pointsthan the ‘QW’ key, the ‘AS’ key is selected to be fed into thePredictive Input Engine 215.

Example 13

Referring to FIGS. 4-8, another keypad processing routine 300 (FIG. 8)seamlessly corrects multiple key presses on a physical keypad 24′ bymaking use of a word list (e.g., generic word list 88 and/or new wordsdatabase 92) in the memory 20 of FIG. 1B along with, for example, touchsensors 27′ on the keypad keys 28′ (e.g., on the key caps). For example,on top of each key cap, a touch sensor 27′ is added to provide dataregarding the key press and the area of intended contact. Then, forexample, the key presses immediately preceding a new key press areprocessed in a suitable word checker algorithm (e.g., analogous to aSureType™ algorithm at 312) to make a decision on the user-intended keypress.

In this example, the keypad 24′ is a full keypad (e.g., withoutlimitation, a full QWERTY keypad) in which plural letters are notassigned to any one of the keys 28′. Alternatively, a reduced keypad maybe employed. In that instance, a touch sensor (e.g., 27′) is employedfor each of the characters of those keys. Except for the keypad 24′ andthe touch sensors 27′, the handheld electronic device 4′ may begenerally the same or similar to the handheld electronic device 4 ofFIG. 1, which has the keypad 24 and the touchpad 26. Hence, for FIGS. 4and 5, the corresponding input apparatus 8 (FIG. 1A) includes the keypad24′ and the touch sensors 27′.

For example, data is potentially taken from one, some or all of theeight surrounding keys (e.g., W, E, R, S, F, Z, X and C) and theintended key (e.g., D) as shown in FIGS. 4-7.

FIG. 4 shows the area on the keypad 24′ of the physical key press 301,which involves six (S, D, F, Z, X and C) of the nine potentiallyrelevant keys 28′, it being appreciated that additional keys (not shown)are employed, as is conventional. In this example, a touch sensitiveinput component 26′ is disposed on each of the keys 28′. Here, the touchsensitive input component 26′ is a plurality of the touch sensors 27′,which are structured to provide a number of responses 31′ (FIG. 6) to aprocessor (e.g., processor 17 of FIG. 1A). As will be discussed, below,in connection with FIG. 8, the processor 17 is structured to output, at316, a representation of a character based upon those responses 31′.This provides the best possible key (e.g., the user's intended key) (orcharacters of a key, if a reduced keypad (not shown) is employed)arising from the present press of a plurality of the keys 28′, asdetermined if the resultant word or term (as defined by: (a) a number ofprior presses of the keys 28′, and (b) the present press of theplurality of the keys 28′) is in a suitable word dictionary (e.g., 88 or92).

FIG. 6 shows the responses 31′ versus time of the corresponding touchsensors 27′. Here, the user has previously typed “HEA” and the currentkey press provides the letter “D” as is best shown by the maximum peakresponse 31D′ in FIG. 6. This provides the term “HEAD”. The verificationstep is whether “HEAD” is in the device's dictionary (e.g., word list).If so, then the resulting word is, in fact, “HEAD”.

The foregoing is contrasted with FIG. 5, which shows the area on thekeypad 24′ of a physical key press 301′ involving four (S, D, Z and X)of the nine potentially relevant keys 28′. FIG. 7 shows the responses31″ versus time of the corresponding touch sensors 27′. Here, the userhas previously typed “HEA” and the current key press provides the letter“X” as is best shown in FIG. 7. This provides the term “HEAX”. Theverification step is whether “HEAX” is in the device's dictionary (e.g.,word list). Here, since this term is not in the dictionary, then thenext best key press from FIG. 7 is the letter “D” as is best shown bythe next best maximum peak response 31D″ in FIG. 7. The verificationstep is then repeated to determined whether “HEAD” is in the device'sdictionary (e.g., word list). If so, then the resulting word is, infact, “HEAD”.

Referring to FIG. 8, at 302 and 304, if multiple keys 28′ are pressedwhen the operating system (OS) keypad scanner routine 218 (FIG. 1B)scans the keypad 24′, then a Multiple Key Press is reported by thatkeypad scanner routine 218. At step 306 of FIG. 8, if the key pressesare delayed by so much in time that they get scanned by the keypadscanner routine 218 in two different scanning sequences, then noMultiple Key Press is reported by that routine and both key presses areseparately accepted at different instances of step 308. Even steps302-306 are similar to respective even steps 202-206 of FIG. 2. Thus, atthe input to 308, plural keys 28′ were either actuated at the same timeor, else, within a predetermined time (e.g., without limitation, 80 mS)of each other.

At 309, the best key press of the touch sensors 27′ is determined fromthe maximum response shown in FIG. 6 (e.g., character “D”) or 7 (e.g.,character “X”). Then, at 310, that character is appended to any priorterm to obtain a new term (e.g., if the user has already typed “HEA” andthe current key press provides the letter “X” then this provides theterm “HEAX”). Next, at 312, the verification step is whether the newterm (e.g., “HEAX”) is in the device's dictionary (e.g., word list 88and/or new words database 92). If so, then the best key press from 309is accepted as FoundKey and the other key presses (as determined at 304or 306) are removed or ignored. Finally, step 302 is repeated.Otherwise, if the new term was not in the dictionary, at 312, then, at318, the next best key press is determined (e.g., from the second bestmaximum response shown in FIG. 7, which provide the character “D”).Then, steps 310 and 312 are repeated to determine if the new term is inthe device's dictionary.

Example 14

The touch sensors 27′ may use a wide range of suitable technology (e.g.,without limitation, capacitive sensors; resistive sensors; any suitabletype of touch sensor). As a non-limiting example, FIGS. 4 and 5 showresistive sensors 27′.

While specific embodiments of the disclosed and claimed concept havebeen described in detail, it will be appreciated by those skilled in theart that various modifications and alternatives to those details couldbe developed in light of the overall teachings of the disclosure.Accordingly, the particular arrangements disclosed are meant to beillustrative only and not limiting as to the scope of the disclosed andclaimed concept which is to be given the full breadth of the claimsappended and any and all equivalents thereof.

1. A handheld electronic device comprising: a housing including asurface; a first input component comprising a plurality of input membersdisposed external to the surface of said housing; a second touchsensitive input component disposed about the input members of said firstinput component, said second touch sensitive input component beingseparate and distinct from said input members and said first inputcomponent and being structured to provide a contact point with respectto the surface of said housing responsive to actuation of a number ofsaid input members; and a processor cooperating with said first inputcomponent and said second touch sensitive input component to determineif a plurality of said input members are actuated contemporaneously andto output a representation of a single one of said input members basedupon said contact point; wherein said processor comprises a memoryincluding a table having, for each of said input members, arepresentation of a corresponding one of said input members, at leastone character associated with the corresponding one of said inputmembers, a first coordinate of the corresponding one of said inputmembers with respect to the surface of said housing, and a secondcoordinate of the corresponding one of said input members with respectto the surface of said housing; wherein said second touch sensitiveinput component is further structured to provide said contact point bysensing a third coordinate and a fourth coordinate corresponding to saidcontact point with respect to the surface of said housing; and whereinsaid processor is structured to output as said representation of thesingle one of said input members the at least one character associatedwith the closest pair of the first and second coordinates to the thirdand fourth coordinates.
 2. The handheld electronic device of claim 1,wherein said second touch sensitive input component is disposed betweensaid housing and the input members of said first input component;wherein said second touch sensitive input component is structured toprovide said contact point; and wherein said processor is structured tooutput said representation based upon said contact point.
 3. Thehandheld electronic device of claim 2, wherein said second touchsensitive input component is a touchpad; and wherein said contact pointis a first coordinate and a second coordinate with respect to thesurface of said housing.
 4. The handheld electronic device of claim 3,wherein said first coordinate is an X position with respect to thesurface of said housing; and wherein said second coordinate is a Yposition with respect to the surface of said housing.
 5. The handheldelectronic device of claim 3, wherein said first input component is akeypad; wherein said input members are a plurality of keys of saidkeypad; and wherein said touchpad is disposed under said keypad to sensethe first and second coordinates.
 6. The handheld electronic device ofclaim 2, wherein said processor is structured to determine that a firstnumber of said input members were actuated at a first time and todetermine that only one of said input members was actuated at a latersecond time, which is within about a predetermined time after said firsttime, and to responsively output said representation of said only one ofsaid input members based upon said contact point.
 7. The handheldelectronic device of claim 2, wherein said processor is structured todetermine that said contact point is remote from all of said inputmembers; and wherein said processor comprises a predictive input routinestructured to employ an identification of said plurality of said inputmembers that are actuated contemporaneously in order to output saidrepresentation of the single one of said input members based upon saididentification.
 8. The handheld electronic device of claim 7, whereinsaid predictive input routine is a disambiguation routine.
 9. Thehandheld electronic device of claim 7, wherein said predictive inputroutine is further structured to evaluate said plurality of said inputmembers that are actuated contemporaneously based upon at least one of:(a) a count of words being predicted from each of said plurality of saidinput members that are actuated contemporaneously, and (b) a measure ofcommon usage of said words.
 10. The handheld electronic device of claim1, wherein said first input component is a keypad; and wherein saidinput members are a plurality of keys of said keypad.
 11. The handheldelectronic device of claim 10, wherein said keypad is a reduced keypadin which each of at least a portion of the keys have a plurality ofletters assigned thereto.
 12. The handheld electronic device of claim 1,wherein said first input component is a full keypad; wherein said inputmembers are a plurality of keys of said full keypad; and wherein aplurality letters are not assigned to any one of the keys.
 13. Thehandheld electronic device of claim 1, wherein said processor isstructured to determine if a plurality of said input members areactuated at the same time or within about a predetermined time of eachother.
 14. The handheld electronic device of claim 1, wherein saidprocessor is structured to determine that a number of said input memberswere actuated at a first time and to determine that only one of saidinput members was actuated at a later second time, which is greater thana predetermined time after said first time, and to responsively output arepresentation of said only one of said input members.
 15. The handheldelectronic device of claim 1, wherein said processor is structured todetermine specific ones of said plurality of said input members that areactuated contemporaneously before determining and outputting saidrepresentation of the single one of said input members based upon saidcontact point.
 16. The handheld electronic device of claim 1, whereinsaid processor is further structured to ignore all of said plurality ofsaid input members that are actuated contemporaneously except for saidsingle one of said input members.
 17. The handheld electronic device ofclaim 1, wherein said processor is further structured to output saidrepresentation of the single one of said input members as selected fromall of said input members.
 18. The handheld electronic device of claim1, wherein said processor is further structured to output saidrepresentation of the single one of said input members as selected fromonly said plurality of said input members that are actuatedcontemporaneously.
 19. The handheld electronic device of claim 1,wherein, when the third coordinate is within a first predetermined valueof the first coordinate of an input member and when the fourthcoordinate is within a second predetermined value of the secondcoordinate of the input member, the processor determines the first andsecond coordinates of the input member as the closest pair of first andsecond coordinates to the third and fourth coordinates.
 20. The handheldelectronic device of claim 19, wherein said input members include awidth and a height; wherein the first predetermined value isproportional to a percentage of said width; and wherein the secondpredetermined value is proportional to a percentage of said height. 21.A method of outputting a selection of an input member of a handheldelectronic device, said method comprising: employing a housing includinga surface; disposing a plurality of input members of a first inputcomponent external to the surface of said housing; disposing a secondtouch sensitive input component, which is separate and distinct fromsaid input members and said first input component, about the inputmembers of said first input component; providing from said second touchsensitive input component a contact point with respect to the surface ofsaid housing responsive to actuation of a number of said input members;and determining if a plurality of said input members are actuatedcontemporaneously and responsively outputting a representation of asingle one of said input members based upon said contact point whereinoutputting said representation of said single one of said input memberscomprises: storing in a memory a table having, for each of said inputmembers, a representation of a corresponding one of said input members,at least one character associated with the corresponding one of saidinput members, a first coordinate of the corresponding one of said inputmembers with respect to the surface of said housing, and a secondcoordinate of the corresponding one of said input members with respectto the surface of said housing; providing, by said second touchsensitive input component, said contact point by sensing a thirdcoordinate and a fourth coordinate corresponding to said contact pointwith respect to the surface of said housing; and outputting as saidrepresentation of the single one of said input members the at least onecharacter associated with the closest pair of the first and secondcoordinates to the third and fourth coordinates.